Producer:

Cinematographer:

Editors:

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According to production notes in AMPAS library files, working titles for the film included: Forest of Fear, Toxic Zombies, Blood Eaters, Blood Butchers, and Bloodeaters: Butchers of the Damned. Charles Austin McCrann was a lawyer who made his feature film debut as producer, writer, director and co-film editor of Bloodeaters, using his nickname Chuck McCrann in the film’s credits. He also starred as the character “Tom Cole,” credited as “Charles Austin,” a combination of his first and middle names. According to an article in the 9 Sep 2011 Yale Daily News, while working for a NY state assemblyman in the 1970s, McCrann took evening film classes at New York University and developed the horror screenplay. The 29 Oct 1980 Var review reported principal photography took place in Pennsylvania during 1979 under the title Forest of Fear. The production was shot in 16m film, and the filmmakers released a “grainy 35m blowup.”
The 5 Mar 1980 DV reported that Forest of Fear received an R-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) Classification and Ratings Administration. 1981 Academy Awards paperwork in AMPAS library files noted Bloodeaters was released in Los Angeles, CA, on 9 Jan 1981. Bloodeaters was McCrann’s sole feature film endeavor. As a corporate lawyer, McCrann became a senior vice president at Marsh & McLennan. Their offices were located in the north tower of the World Trade Center, and McCrann died in the terrorist attack on 11 Sep 2001. ...
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According to production notes in AMPAS library files, working titles for the film included: Forest of Fear, Toxic Zombies, Blood Eaters, Blood Butchers, and Bloodeaters: Butchers of the Damned. Charles Austin McCrann was a lawyer who made his feature film debut as producer, writer, director and co-film editor of Bloodeaters, using his nickname Chuck McCrann in the film’s credits. He also starred as the character “Tom Cole,” credited as “Charles Austin,” a combination of his first and middle names. According to an article in the 9 Sep 2011 Yale Daily News, while working for a NY state assemblyman in the 1970s, McCrann took evening film classes at New York University and developed the horror screenplay. The 29 Oct 1980 Var review reported principal photography took place in Pennsylvania during 1979 under the title Forest of Fear. The production was shot in 16m film, and the filmmakers released a “grainy 35m blowup.”
The 5 Mar 1980 DV reported that Forest of Fear received an R-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) Classification and Ratings Administration. 1981 Academy Awards paperwork in AMPAS library files noted Bloodeaters was released in Los Angeles, CA, on 9 Jan 1981. Bloodeaters was McCrann’s sole feature film endeavor. As a corporate lawyer, McCrann became a senior vice president at Marsh & McLennan. Their offices were located in the north tower of the World Trade Center, and McCrann died in the terrorist attack on 11 Sep 2001. End credits include the following statement: “Special Thanks to John and Mary Triboletti, Mad Mansion Studio, Harold Kinderdeine, Merc-Young Filmmakers Foundation.”MoreLess

Forest of FearToxic ZombiesBlood EatersBlood ButchersBloodeaters: Butchers of the Damned

Release Date:

9 January 1981

Premiere Information:

Los Angeles opening: 9 January 1981

Production Date:

1979 in Pennsylvania

Copyright Claimant:

C. M. Productions

Copyright Date:

18 October 1979

Copyright Number:

PA67381

Physical Properties:

Sound

Color

Duration(in mins):

84

MPAA Rating:

R

Country:

United States

Language:

English

Passed by NBR:

No

SYNOPSIS

While searching for a group of hippies growing $2 million worth of marijuana plants in a remote mountain area, two federal agents discover their encampment and shoot a girl as she returns from bathing. Two hippies sneak behind the agents, murder them, and hide their bodies. The hippie leader decides to harvest as much marijuana as possible and leave before more federal officials search for their missing peers. Later, in Washington, D.C., federal officer Briggs informs his subordinate, Phillips, that the agents have not reported for two days, and assumes they have been murdered. Realizing the drug dealers will harvest their crop and disappear, Briggs suggests hiring a crop duster to spray the area with an experimental herbicide called Dromax. Phillips warns that Dromax might be toxic to humans, but Briggs insists that the area is remote and the hippies are the only people at risk. Agreeing that headquarters will reward them for catching the drug dealers, Phillips hires an alcoholic crop duster, who agrees to keep his work secret. At the mountain field office, agent Tom Cole telephones his brother, Jay, to confirm their plans for an upcoming fishing trip. Cole receives a telex message from Briggs postponing his quarter-yearly inspection of the area due to supposed flooding. However, Cole knows that the region has experienced less rain than usual, and wonders if his superiors discovered his plan to conduct the inspection during his fishing trip. Meanwhile, the crop duster sprays Dromax over the area, which causes most of the hippies to vomit blood and fall ill. The pilot returns home also covered in Dromax, and awakens the next day in a zombie-like state. As he murders his ...
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While searching for a group of hippies growing $2 million worth of marijuana plants in a remote mountain area, two federal agents discover their encampment and shoot a girl as she returns from bathing. Two hippies sneak behind the agents, murder them, and hide their bodies. The hippie leader decides to harvest as much marijuana as possible and leave before more federal officials search for their missing peers. Later, in Washington, D.C., federal officer Briggs informs his subordinate, Phillips, that the agents have not reported for two days, and assumes they have been murdered. Realizing the drug dealers will harvest their crop and disappear, Briggs suggests hiring a crop duster to spray the area with an experimental herbicide called Dromax. Phillips warns that Dromax might be toxic to humans, but Briggs insists that the area is remote and the hippies are the only people at risk. Agreeing that headquarters will reward them for catching the drug dealers, Phillips hires an alcoholic crop duster, who agrees to keep his work secret. At the mountain field office, agent Tom Cole telephones his brother, Jay, to confirm their plans for an upcoming fishing trip. Cole receives a telex message from Briggs postponing his quarter-yearly inspection of the area due to supposed flooding. However, Cole knows that the region has experienced less rain than usual, and wonders if his superiors discovered his plan to conduct the inspection during his fishing trip. Meanwhile, the crop duster sprays Dromax over the area, which causes most of the hippies to vomit blood and fall ill. The pilot returns home also covered in Dromax, and awakens the next day in a zombie-like state. As he murders his shrewdish wife, she grabs a knife and stabs him. Meanwhile, Cole, his wife Polly, and Jay embark on their fishing trip. Elsewhere, the hippie leader and his girl friend, Jane, who remained safe from the Dromax, break camp as the others lie sick. The leader insists they depart immediately, but as he tries to rally the group, one of the hippies hits his arm with an axe and attacks him and Jane. As Jane and her boyfriend run to a stream, blood pours from his cut onto a rock, which is then drunk by a female ghoul. The hippie leader and Jane attempt to elude their pursuers, but are caught and killed. Later, a mother an father prepare food at their campsite while their teenage daughter, Amy, and mentally handicapped son, Jimmy, explore the woods. The zombies shuffle into the campsite and the frightened parents run away, but the father is brutally killed. Another zombie strangles the mother, but she stabs it in the eye with a knife and escapes, running onto a rural road and encountering a farmer tending to his truck. He agrees to give her a ride, but a zombie stumbles onto the road and falls down before them. Despite the woman's warnings, the farmer investigates and is killed by the zombie, which then fatally bites her neck. Amy and Jimmy return to their campsite and discover their parents are missing. Briggs and Phillips telephone Cole's office and learn he is in the field. Later, Jay, Polly, and Cole set up camp, and the next morning, Jay fishes upstream while Cole catches fish for Polly. She wonders if his supervisors will be angry when he returns to his office, but Cole insists he must tour the area quarterly and they never responded to his queries about the postponement. They are interrupted by the arrival of Jimmy and Amy, and Cole and Polly feed the teenagers, promising to help find their parents. When Jay returns, they drive to the family's campsite, which has been demolished. Cole and Jay investigate while Polly waits in the car with the two children. Nearby, Cole discovers an amputated leg in the woods. Hearing screams, he returns to the camp as zombies attack the car. As Cole hits the zombies at the vehicle, two other zombies catch Jay and beat him to death with a rock. Cole gets into the car and they speed away. Further up the mountain, they abandon the car and run into the woods. Meanwhile, Briggs and Phillips drive to the area, hoping to contain the situation. Phillips requests that Cole keep quiet, but Briggs dislikes Cole and insists he will talk. Elsewhere on the mountain, Cole explains there are bloodthirsty cannibalistic killers chasing them, but the hermit refuses to believe them. The hermit says the hippies paid him to ignore them, and as the hermit rants against the government, Cole is surprised to learn about the marijuana growers and the crop dusting. Later, the zombies approach the cabin with torches, but the hermit arms himself with a rifle and orders them to leave the shack. As the approaching zombies distract him, Cole hits the hermit, grabs the gun, and shoots a zombie. Polly escapes Amy and Jimmy while Cole battles the zombies, managing to escape, but losing the rifle just as the attackers enter the cabin, kill the hermit, and set fire to the shack. In the morning, Briggs and Phillips discover Cole, Polly, Amy, and Jimmy on a mountain road and offer them a ride. Cole is surprised when Briggs pulls out a gun and Phillips drives back into the danger zone. The agents tie Amy, Polly, and Jimmy in the car and force Cole to lead them into the woods. Briggs plans to kill the zombies first, then make it appear as if the zombies murdered Cole's group. Under attack, Briggs leaves Phillip guarding Cole, returns to the car, and shoots one zombie, but allows the other to attack the vehicle's occupants. When a zombie pulls Jimmy from the back seat, Briggs does nothing, forcing Polly to jump out to rescue him. However, her hands remain tied, and the zombie breaks her neck. Meanwhile,a zombie hits Phillips with a rock and bites him. Phillips screams for Cole's help, but Cole grabs his gun and rushes back to the car, arriving in time to save Jimmy from attack. As Briggs shoots Cole in the shoulder, Amy uses broken glass to cut her bonds. As Briggs aims at Cole again, Amy grabs a dead zombie's axe and rams it into Briggs's back. He spins around to shoot Amy, but Briggs throws a knife into Briggs's neck, killing him instantly. When the last zombie grabs Amy, Cole craws to Briggs's rifle to and shoots the zombie. Later, Cole packs his office as another federal agent named Sloan arrives to claim that Briggs was a lunatic trying to cover up an unauthorized action. He asks Cole to stay, but the officer refuses, and drives away to visit Amy and Jimmy at their grandparents' home.
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